A Compliment

Haley got money for Christmas.

My child loves to shop and she understands that she needs money to shop, so when her Big Sis wanted to go to the Mall she was ready.

Yeah, fun day!

The Holiday Express is a train ride behind one of the two steam engines that are housed in Portland. The first weekend this year it was pulled by the SP&S 700 and the second weekend it was pulled by the SP 4449.

Haley's Dad took her to watch the 700 on the first weekend. They had a great time together. They spent the rest of the day looking at the pictures that he had taken of it. Haley loves talking about the steam and the smoke. She still says that it smells good.

I found out later in the day that Haley and her Dad actually took a spill on a slippery part of the trail. She hadn't told me about that. Her Dad said that she was surprised and it looked as if she was about to cry when he laughed it off and made some jokes. Then she laughed about it too and they went on.

She was really excited about seeing the 700 running and kept talking about taking a train ride. Her Dad had to admit that we had tickets for the following weekend.  She even made him show them to her.  That was all she would talk about all week long. "Tickets. Ride. One, two, three, four,"  because we had tickets for each on of us.  Once she saw them she was fine. She was excited, but she never got upset like she has in the past when something fun doesn't happen fast enough.

So the next Saturday we got in the Yukon and headed out.  We planned to go early this year so that Haley could get her shopping done before the ride.  Her Big Sis needed to be somewhere right after the ride.  Haley enjoyed walking around looking at all of the merchandise they had on display.  She pointed at things and talked about them, but she wasn't picking things up or acting like she wanted any one thing.  I needed to speed it along so I asked her if she wanted to buy anything.  She was off like a shot picking up videos, calendars and t-shirts.  I had to push past a few people just to keep up with her.  I know she understands money and buying things now, but she was in such an excited state I was afraid that she would just fill her arms and head out.

She chose a calender of the SP 4449, a video (the second part of a series we already started buying her) and a shirt with the SP&S 700 on it.  I think she would have taken one of everything, but I had to limit her a little bit.  She also wanted a hot chocolate, but her Big Sis thought that maybe what she really wanted was the free cookie that went with it.

We got in line and listened to the volunteer explain about the engine and the trip.  Then we got to get on the train.  We chose a seat with a table and sat down and Haley opened up her bag of goodies to check everything out.  She had also picked up a brochure about Amtrak that she (surprisingly) didn't already have, considering how much time we had been spending at the Amtrak station lately.  There were brochures on the table when we sat down and she was quick to grab them and stuff them into her bag as well.

As we rode down the track we talked about what we saw out the window.  Her Dad pointed out the places that they had stopped along the trail to take pictures the weekend before.  He even pointed out where they both fell down.  Haley pointed out the lights and the ornaments that decorated the inside of the car.  Soon we heard the jingle of bells and we knew what to expect.  Santa and his elves came in to our car and gave everyone candy canes.  He stopped to take pictures with the children.  I asked him if I could take a picture of him with Haley.  I don't think that he realized she was a kid - she is getting so big these days.

We had a great time on the trip this year.  Haley still talks about it.  She says "Yeah, fun day!"

Christmas Shopping Made Easy

Haley's Big Sis sends me an email each year listing in detail what she wants for Christmas.  The list is not long but, it is specific.  I appreciate that.  It makes my job easier.

I don't (usually) get that kind of help from Haley.

She doesn't really ask for anything. She is always happy to receive presents. She likes to open presents. She isn't picky.

She always likes new clothes.  She likes new videos.  Sometime it is easy, like when a movie comes out with toys.  Cars is a good example of that.  I got on EBay and bought every die-cast car they made.  I couldn't find them in the stores.

This year is different.  She has been asking for things, in her own way.

Haley gets catalogs in the mail that feature railroad memorabilia, t-shirts and model trains.  She likes to point out her favorites to me.  I usually make a comment about the picture or to be honest I usually just mumble "uh, huh..." 

I mean, she points to just about every picture, in every catalog many times a day, all day long, every day.

Now that she has earned the money for a t-shirt and a video from the catalogs it has changed a little bit.  After I comment she usually says "Nine Dollars."  Not everything in the catalog is nine dollars, but most prices end in .99 so to her that is what it means.

She especially likes to point out the model of her favorite steam engine, the 4449.  She tells me that it is nine dollars, but it is not. 

It is $499.00. 

I know that she wants it, that is obvious.  Little does she know that even if I had a momentary lack of judgement and bought it for her I wouldn't let her touch it.  That wouldn't work for her. 

She would want to touch it.  She would want to carry it in her purse.  She would want to sleep with it.

So the other day Haley was on the computer.  She was talking and she wanted my attention.  She wanted to show me something.  I walked over to the desk and looked over her shoulder. 

She was on EBay. 

She was pointing at a picture of the Daylight.  I looked closer.  It was a Christmas ornament.  It was pretty detailed.  It was about nine dollars.  I said "uh, huh...", distracted her, signed in to EBay and put it on my watch list.

This morning I found many of the same ornaments with many different prices.  I decided to bid on one and buy another.  I will put one away for her in it's original box.  The other one will be for her to touch.

To put in her purse.

To sleep with.

Christmas shopping made easy. 

Thanks, Haley.

Not Cool Mom

Haley is mad at me.

It happens sometimes.  Especially when she sees fun in her future and then it is snatched away.

Number One Daughter is learning to drive and has her permit. I do not relish the idea of her driving away in my car (or any other car, for that matter) but it might be nice someday. As it is I am still a glorified chauffeur.

When she calls and says will you come and pick me and my friend up and take us to the mall and her Dad isn't around I have to bring Haley with me. So Haley sees the girls, she sees the mall and she assumes that fun will ensue.

And then the girls get out and we drive away.

"Shopping!," she screams.

"No Haley, I was just giving the girls a ride."

"Shopping!"

She is mad at me.

Happy Birthday to You!

Haley's Big Sis had a birthday.

I had been out of town so I hadn't done any shopping.

I know, LAME! 

Anyway...the night before her birthday she said "If you got me a YouCurl for my birthday could you just leave it on my bathroom counter in the morning so that I can use it before school."

Subtle.

Haley and I were about to head out to her Confirmation class so I just smiled at my daughter and left.  I thought that the YouCurl (that I hadn't bought) could be from Haley.  So after Haley and I went to her class and my choir practice at church we stopped at Target.

Haley likes Target.

She likes to shop at the $1 section at the front of the store.  She also likes the girl clothing section.  She was not happy with me when we quickly passed by them both.  I told her that we were there to get her sister a birthday present.  That got her going.  "Birthday.  Birthday.  Birthday," she said.  I explained to her that it was her sister's birthday and that we were getting her a gift that Haley could give her.  She just said "Shopping," in a very annoyed voice.

After we made our purchase we got back in the car and then she really had a fit.  Great big tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Haley, tomorrow is your sister's birthday.  You can give her this present tonight.  Do you want to go home and put a bow on it?"

She seemed to perk up a bit.

"Do you want to put a bow on it?

"Yeah."

"What color bow do you want to put on it?"

"Red."

"OK, when we get home we will put a red bow on the box and you can give it to sister, do you want to do that?

"Yeah."

So when we got home I got out the gift wrapping supplies and Haley picked out a nice red bow, she also noticed a tag in the box with her sister's name on it.  I thought that it was appropriate so I taped both onto the box.  I handed the box to Haley and told her to give it to her sister and say "Happy Birthday!"

I gently nudged her in to the living room where her sister was watching TV.  Haley just stood there.

"Haley, give sister the box and say 'Happy Birthday.'" I whispered into her ear.

Haley took two steps into the room and threw the box at her sister (who had been watching TV and not even paying attention to us) the box landed with a thud on her stomach and she jumped.

"Haley, say Happy Birthday."  I said.

Haley turned and walked out of the room.

How does the saying go...it is the thought that counts?  Hmmmm...

Oh My Head

My daughter wants to visit her Grandparents again.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  It's just that she gets these ideas in her head and she doesn't let go.

This past weekend Haley and I had a girls weekend.  My husband was out of town and Haley' Big Sis went to the beach with her best friend and Haley and I stayed home.  It was a three day weekend.

Haley and I had fun.  We went shopping.  We shopped on Friday and on Saturday.  Haley bought a new shirt and a new coat and I got her a new set of luggage.  We got Chinese take out Friday night and we had a sausage and sauerkraut dish on Saturday that her Dad doesn't like.  We went to church together on Sunday.

This morning when I woke up she was already up.  She was convinced that we were going to pack her new luggage and head up to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  I told her we didn't have plans to do that and that she needed to get ready for school.  That upset her, there were tears.  A lot of tears.

I told her that we had invited Grandma and Grandpa to our house for Thanksgiving and so that meant that they would be coming here instead.  I asked her if she thought that was a good idea.  She liked it, but she still wants to go up there.

This is going to be a long week.

No Holes

A couple of weeks ago Haley was looking at one of her train websites and she saw some earrings that she liked.  She didn't know that they were earrings, they were railroad heralds and she thought they were cool.  I told her what they were for and showed her my ears and told her that she didn't have holes in her ears so she didn't really have a use for earrings. 

It wasn't really a big deal because the next item was a necklace with the same herald.  I told here that a necklace would be much better for her anyway.

This morning Haley came to me during breakfast pointing to her ears and jabbering about her ears.  I didn't know what she was talking about so I followed her.  She had a catalog open to a certain page and she pointed to the earrings at the top of the page.  They were tiny railroad crossing signs.  They were adorable.

I told her again that she didn't have holes in her ears.  She said "No holes."  I told her there was a lot more to earrings than just finding a cute pair.  I know she doesn't understand, but I am not about to put holes in her ears.

Daylight Dollars

I may regret this.  You would think I would learn, especially after the twelve day period that I just went through, but here I go again.

Haley is a shopper.  She loves to shop.  She loves clothes. She doesn't seem to think that she can get to a point where she has enough clothes.  She is always on the search for that elusive special shirt that she just can't live without.

I needed to go to the mall on Sunday.  Haley's Dad was not home and Haley's Big Sis needed to go with me (we were returning a video game and it was apparently urgent.)  So I had to take Haley.  I tried to explain to her before we left what we would be doing.  We were going to a specific store within the mall and that would be the only store we were going in to.  We were not going to go to another store.  We were not going to buy anything.

We had just been to a store a couple of days earlier (for Haley's Big Sis) and Haley walked out of it with a big bag.  I am so weak.

Anyway, it didn't matter what I said before, during or after.  Haley was upset that she didn't get to buy anything.

Later on that day she was looking at her Historic Rail catalog and she saw a t-shirt with the Daylight steam engine on it.  It is black and it looks like the white steam and other white parts of the shirt might glow in the dark, much like the 700 shirt she already has.  I told her that. 

"Haley, it's just like the one you have with the 700 on it."

"Daylight."

Oh, right.  It is different.  My bad.

She is starting to get the concept of money.  She knows that she needs money if she is going to the mall with her class.  She knows Mom puts money in her wallet when she needs it.  She knows if there are numbers next to something in a JCPenney's ad it means - money. 

She pointed to the picture of the t-shirt in the catalog and said "Money."  I told her that it was fifteen dollars.

Then I got an idea.  What if I had her do some chores to earn the money.  I had already asked her to pick up her videos and put them away (and she hadn't done it.)  I thought that if she had some incentive she just might.  I asked her if she wanted to buy the shirt.  She said "Yeah."  I told her that she needed fifteen dollars.  I told her that if she picked up her videos and put them in the cabinet I would give her one dollar.  I said "Would you pick up your videos for one dollar?"  She said "Yeah."  She bent down and picked up her entire stack of videos and headed for the cabinet.  I could see disaster all over that, I watched her take a few steps and put them on the ottoman.

I realized I was going to have to be more specific.  I showed her how to stack each one on the table by the cabinet and then I showed her how to put each one in the cabinet.  I walked away.  It must be noted that both her Dad and her Big Sis were witnesses to this whole thing, they were not much help though.  Haley's Dad made a comment about how she was doing and I looked over to see her stacking all of the videos up too high.  I had to come back and show her how to make them fit within the cabinet.  When she was all done I said "Good Job!" and I showed her the chart on the fridge that I had quickly made on a white board.  I showed her the fifteen squares and then I filled one in.  She was excited.

Since then she has put away all of her toys and helped me empty the dishwasher.  I am going to have to think of more things for her to do.  She doesn't like to wait so she will want to move this along.  She is already eyeing a video on the same page that is 30 dollars. 

She is very excited about earning her dollars though, she started calling them Daylight Dollars.  I thought it was appropriate.

The Other Shoe

Shortly after I posted the last blog post Haley's Big Sis decided to go over to her friends house.  Shortly after that Haley seemed agitated.  She wanted to know where her sister had gone.  I told her and then she got upset.

I asked her if she missed her sister and she said "Yeah."  Then she said "Haley. Day. ent."  She said it a few more times.  I finally clued in.  She was saying "Haley's Birthday Present."  I asked her which present she was referring to.  She repeated herself.  I repeated myself.  Then she said "One. Two. Three." holding up finger for each number. I said "Do you mean all of them?" and she said "Yeah."  I said "Are you missing your birthday presents?" and she said "Yeah." and started crying. 

It was then that I realized what was in those purses.

Haley and I decided to go shopping.

We went to Target and found a new Polly Pocket to replace the seven or eight Polly Pockets that were in those purses, including the one that her Big Sis had given her for her birthday.  We also found a new Lightning McQueen to replace the two that were in those purses.  We looked for a fawn to replace Raina the Schleich fawn that was in those purses, but we didn't find one.

We then went to the Feed Mill where we found another deer (not the same one she is missing) a new draft horse, two baby horses and a cow that has horns like Heather.

I know I can't replace everything that she lost, but I feel better.  She seems to really like her new toys and she isn't crying anymore.

Another Year Older

This spring a friend of mine asked me if I could stop at the Feed Store on the way to her house and pick up some baby chicks.  She has chickens in her back yard that she keeps for eggs.  She thought that Haley and her sister might enjoy getting the chicks and carrying them in the car to her house.  They did enjoy that and Haley really enjoyed the feed store.

The store had a full rack of Shleich animals and a whole wall devoted to Breyer horses.  She had a lot of fun looking at the store, but I was grateful that she was distracted by the cacophony coming from all of those baby chicks.  There were hundreds of them and you couldn't even have a conversation if you were right by them.

I decided that for her birthday it might be fun to go to the Feed Store and let Haley shop.  We didn't direct her one way or another we just let her look.  She was excited to find a horse just like Chelsea, the horse that went lame a while back.  She grabbed the little horse and immediately said "Yelsee" which is how she says  Chelsea.  She also got a horse that kind of looked like a Shetland pony I used to have and a little deer.  She looked at the wall of Breyer horses, but she didn't seem like she wanted to bring one home.  I think she prefers her little horses because they are small and she can carry several in her hand as well as in her purse.  She also likes to sleep with them.

We got to the car and told her that we would have to name all of them.  Chelsea was done already named of course, so Dad suggested Sandy for the sandy colored mare and Haley came up with Raina for the deer.  We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and picked up a gluten free cake mix and a can of frosting that didn't appear to have dairy in it.  I put the cake in the oven when we got home.

We had stopped at the mailbox on our way in and there was a package for Haley as well as a couple of Birthday cards.  She opened them as soon as we got in the house.  The package was a gift from her Grandma C, she got a really pretty box with horses on it and a couple of magnets with horses on them, a key chain with her name on it and two shirts.  She was excited that she got money in her birthday cards.

Haley's Big Sis called and wished Haley a Happy Birthday and asked if she had opened the gift from her yet.  She hadn't, so she opened it while she was on the phone with her.  She opened her present and found a Polly Pocket doll and some clothes for it and then her Big Sis sang the Birthday song to her.

Later Dad frosted her cake and we had dinner.  After dinner we put a candle on her piece of cake and sang the Birthday song to her.  I helped her blow out her candle.  I had forgotten about one more present from me, so I asked her if she wanted to open another present.  She said "yeah."  It was clothes for her Barbie dolls.  After that we went for a walk.

So now I have two teenagers.

Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster

It has been a crazy ride the last couple of days.  I think it might be the change in routine.  School was out last Tuesday and then we had a couple of nice sunny days that actually felt like summer, then she got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Since we have been back it has been nice, but not really nice enough to swim.  She really wants to swim (and by that I mean splash in our kiddie pool.)

On Tuesday Haley had a meltdown.  I don't even remember what started it.  Her Big Sis had a girlfriend over for a sleepover on Monday night and although they were very quiet it always kind of messes Haley up when her sister has friends over.  I think that anything that is out of her normal routine is hard for Haley, which is why summer can be difficult in general. 

We had plans to visit a friend and I wanted Haley to eat her lunch so that we could go, but Haley didn't want to eat her lunch.  First of all I chose the wrong lunch and she threw herself onto the floor.  This reaction was bad enough when she was little, but now that she is 5'-3" it is awful, I am really worried that she will damage her knees.  Anyway, I made her something else for lunch and she wouldn't eat that either.  She threw herself on the floor again and started crying.  I didn't want to bribe her, but I was running out of options.  I had told her that we wanted to go soon so she needed to eat her lunch, but that didn't phase her.  So I brought out the big guns and told her where we were going.

What happened next was not a surprise to me.  It has happened before.  Mind you I was shocked the first time it happened, but after many times it is something I have come to expect. 

Haley was crying, seemingly inconsolable.  I had tried many things to calm her down to no avail, but when I told her where we were going she took a quick breath and said "Happy."  And then she giggled and she was ready to go.  She didn't eat anymore after that, which was my original goal.  She wanted to put her shoes on and get in the car.  We were going to visit one of her favorite people in the whole world, her "Fairy Godmother."

Haley and her Big Sis used to go to an in home daycare.  They really loved their daycare provider.  They missed her when I retired.  When the girls were baptized we asked her and her husband to be their Godparents.  Haley's Big Sis called her their Fairy Godmother.  We don't get to see her on a regular basis anymore, but when we do it is a big deal.  Of course while we were there Haley was an angel.

Yesterday I had to go to Costco and Fred Meyer.  Haley's Big Sis went to hang out with friends so Haley went with me.  She is really pretty good at the store in general, she does ask for things that she sees though just like other kids.  I let her have some things and I tell her no for others.  At Costco she saw a swimming suit that she liked.  I wasn't sure about the size, but I thought I could return it if it didn't fit. 

I didn't think about how Haley might feel about that.  As far as Haley was concerned if she was bringing it home it was hers.  When we got it home it just barely fit her.  I would have liked a little more growing room, but Haley didn't care.  I still needed to go to Fred Meyer so I told her if we found one there we would take this one back. 

Haley loves to shop.  As far as she is concerned if she likes something it should be hers, no matter if it fits or not.  Well, we tried on a couple of suits and they didn't fit her properly so we got a few groceries and went home.  Haley was already in a bad mood because we weren't bringing anything home for her.  Then we got home and she wanted to put on the swimming suit she did get.   To make a long story short, after many tears I gave in.  She put on the suit and I cut of the tags.  She didn't get to swim however, it just wasn't warm enough.  She wasn't happy about that either, but she did wear the suit for the rest of the day.

So I didn't blog yesterday.  I didn't have the energy and wasn't feeling it.  Maybe today will be better.